Weight Loss Drugs, & Cannibalism: Nothing Tastes As Good with Author Luke Dumas

Thematically, and we're going to get to this, I like to ask this question late in the conversation, but I would say it is sharp thematically in some very clever ways that I don't know.

I think we need this book right now as a society, as I've alluded to.

And you mentioned Edinburgh as an influence.

I'm wondering if there are any other horror authors or what specifically drew you to horror? What made you take the leap?

I mean, I had always read it.

I went through, I think like a lot of horror writers, I went through a Stephen King phase as a teenager, even a preteen.

I think this book really came out of a love of the book Thinner, one of Stephen King's earlier novels, which is a weight loss, like a dramatic weight loss horror.

And I had, you know, I've always loved things that are dark and things that are a little bit macabre.

I think from a More aesthetic standpoint, I just am drawn towards the darkness a little bit.

So even when I was writing comedy, it was a darker comedy.

But I've always stayed there and I've always liked...

I don't know.

It just, it speaks to me.

It speaks to me.

And more and more, you know, gothic aesthetic too sometimes just really speaks to me.

This one is not so gothic.

Sort of my other two books are.

This is a little bit sunnier because it's set in Southern California where I'm from.

It has this sort of dark undercurrent running underneath it.

But yeah, I don't know.

I've just always, I love things that make you...

I don't know.

I'm hard to scare.

Like, I don't get scared.

When I read horror, I don't necessarily get scared, but I kind of grin.

Thematically, and we're going to get to this, I like to ask this question late in the conversation, but I would say it is sharp thematically in some very clever ways that I don't know.

I think we need this book right now as a society, as I've alluded to.

And you mentioned Edinburgh as an influence.

I'm wondering if there are any other horror authors or what specifically drew you to horror? What made you take the leap?

I mean, I had always read it.

I went through, I think like a lot of horror writers, I went through a Stephen King phase as a teenager, even a preteen.

I think this book really came out of a love of the book Thinner, one of Stephen King's earlier novels, which is a weight loss, like a dramatic weight loss horror.

And I had, you know, I've always loved things that are dark and things that are a little bit macabre.

I think from a More aesthetic standpoint, I just am drawn towards the darkness a little bit.

So even when I was writing comedy, it was a darker comedy.

But I've always stayed there and I've always liked...

I don't know.

It just, it speaks to me.

It speaks to me.

And more and more, you know, gothic aesthetic too sometimes just really speaks to me.

This one is not so gothic.

Sort of my other two books are.

This is a little bit sunnier because it's set in Southern California where I'm from.

It has this sort of dark undercurrent running underneath it.

But yeah, I don't know.

I've just always, I love things that make you...

I don't know.

I'm hard to scare.

Like, I don't get scared.

When I read horror, I don't necessarily get scared, but I kind of grin.